Socio-Economic and Ecological Perspectives in the Harvesting of High Valued Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of High Altitude Regions of Western Himalaya

The increasing market demands of herbal products have resulted in considerable enhancement of economic value of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) of high-altitude regions of Himalaya, but this has also intensified the harvesting pressure on their wild populations. This study investigates harvesting patterns, extraction intensity, trade practices and economic returns of MAPs in Lahaul and Pangi regions of Himachal Pradesh, India. Extensive field surveys were undertaken during years 2018 - 2022, and information was recorded through structured surveys from 265 respondents involved in MAPs collection. We found average extraction days to range from 7.33 ± 1.04 to 30.45 ± 5.71 days/collector and collected biomass from 0.80 ± 0.63 to 32.02 ± 3.28 kg/day, with species like Fritillaria cirrhosa (USD 4071.63 ± 417.08) and Picrorhiza kurroa (USD 300.30 ± 102.23) yielding the utmost annual economic returns. Higher dependencies of local communities on MAPs, poses sustainability challenges, and therefore strengthening monitoring frameworks and promoting community-led conservation into sustainable harvesting are essential for ecological and economic stability.